Make Relaxation A Priority

With everything that is going on in the world today, we are all experiencing more stress than normal. This stress can cause a wide range of symptoms including anxiety, depression, physical pain, irritability, and loneliness just to name a few. These symptoms might show up differently in children than they do in adults. Kids might also cry more easily without being able to explain why, they might fight with their siblings even more than usual, draw or write depressing scenes or (like many adults) want to eat large amounts of comfort foods. There are many different ways that stress shows up in people, too many to name here. What we can be sure of is that we are all feeling it in one way or another. I’d like to offer some ways to break up the stress, to add positive energy to your home. Try some of these suggestions on your own or with your family:

1. Get the sidewalk chalk out and create a masterpiece in front of your home. Pro tip: use painters tape to create clean edges!
2. Bake something new! Choose a category like desserts or appetizers and then choose a recipe you’d never normally make, and try it.
3. Make grids. You can make grids using sacred geometry if have it or just create designs that appeal to you. Use any crystals you have, add stones from your garden, use buttons, beads or anything on hand. Consider this a playful experiment rather than a spiritual practice (although I’m betting you will find this spiritually uplifting).
4. Turn on some music and dance! Even if you only dance for 30 seconds, just be silly and move your body. 
5. Get into the habit of practicing meditation every day. You can start out with just 5 minutes in the morning, have everyone in the family sit together and listen to a 5 minute meditation on YouTube. Meditation takes practice, so don’t be intimidated if it is difficult at first. Keep at it!
6. Create a journal. Write out your thoughts and feelings. Draw, cut out images from magazines, paint, use glitter, whatever it is that calls to you. Use this space as a place to let out negative feelings, and draw in positive ones. Use one page for expressing your stress, use the next page to create images of hope, positive vibes and the energy you want to create for yourself.

These are just some ideas I thought I’d share as a starting point. Do you have some ideas to share? Comment on this post and let us know what you would add to this list!